Global Sourcing

Changing behaviours in sourcing - Q&A with Salesforce and Oracle's former CPO

CPO of VSP Global Greg Tennyson leads transformative change. He is the former VP and CPO (source-to-settle and expense-to-settle) at Salesforce and Oracle.

Greg sat down with ScoutRFP to discuss sourcing’s ever-evolving relationship with business - he talks culture, Moolah (the spend-it-like-its-yours monster) and how CPOs can work with the pace of change at an organisation to reach sourcing-stakeholder “utopia.”

Identifying and mitigating global sourcing risks

Supply chains and adjusting to Trump: think local and global

It’s still early in the Trump presidency, but not too early for supply chain professionals to begin planning for what could be major challenges in global markets and trade agreements, especially if President Donald Trump follows through on border tariffs, the dismantling of existing trade agreements, and other “America First” protectionism ideas he has shared as part of his Twitter-storm rhetoric, writes Tennessee University Professor in Supply Chain Management,Kate Vitasek.

What makes SA such a popular outsourced destination?

Under increasing pressures to cut costs and achieve efficiencies in the current global macroeconomic situation, organisations look for destinations that are not only cost-effective, but can also provide quality services especially in terms of high-end processes. In this regard, South Africa has, to a large extent, been able to establish its offshoring mettle; a number of European, US and Australian companies have started offshoring complex processes to South Africa.

According to current estimates from Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA) - the BPO industry association in South Africa, the South African BPM sector employs 225 000 people and contributes more than R50-billion to the national annual GDP. The country accounts for 1% of the global business process and information technology outsourcing market.

How has South Africa established itself as the next emerging offshoring hub?

Lerato Sithole, Director of Supply Chain Management: Business-Process-as-a-Service for Deloitte, discusses the factors that are making South Africa a popular offshoring destination, in this month’s SmartProcurement.

"Ghana needs professional procurement practitioners"

Ghana needs professional procurement practitioners to salvage the country from corrupt practices in its economic transactions, said Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply-Africa, Prof. Douglas Boateng.

3 supply chain lessons from the mismanagement of the EBOLA disaster

The current outbreak of Ebola is the largest and most complex since its discovery in 1976, exceeding the sum of all previously identified cases.

In October 2014, The World Health Organisation announced that there could be 10 000 new cases of Ebola per week and the current outbreak’s mortality rate had increased to 70%.

What was considered West African problem became a global concern with cases being treated in Europe and America, some of them resulting in fatalities. While there is a concerted effort to contain the outbreak, the international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, an NGO working in the affected regions, said earlier that “six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it.”

The question that businesses need to ask themselves is what could they learn from this experience, says Suresh Somasundaram, Director of Business Network Marketing at SAP, in this month’s SmartProcurement.

Reducing supply chain costs through the circular economy

Today, the linear ‘take, make, dispose’ economy that relies heavily on cheap resources for growth, is under threat from increasing commodity prices and growing consumer demand. The ‘circular economy’ offers a viable alternative, with cost savings estimated at over $1-trillion per annum by 2025. The supply chain has a key role to play in driving the transition to a circular economy, Tech-Pro tells SmartProcurement.¹

The need to contain costs in all aspects of business is now more crucial than ever for most companies. Many challenges lie ahead in these uncertain economic times; input costs, particularly raw materials, are on the rise again, and the search for greater cost reduction in business is intensifying. But after years of significant cost-cutting programmes, there is very little low-hanging fruit left, says visionary supply chain thinker Martin Christopher .

Procure better outcomes from your print process

Companies often see print as a cost of doing business and have not made the move to optimise their print management. However, simply taking that first step with the right print management partner can produce surprising and staggering outcomes, Christian Bell, Head of Sales and Marketing at Point, told SmartProcurement.

Greater value lies in procured print-manage services

The true value of print expenditure is becoming increasingly evident with the evolution of more sophisticated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) accounting systems, which is increasing the focus on the print commodity and highlighting the need for companies to gain greater insight into and control of this product, Christian Bell, Head of Sales and Marketing at print management consultancy Point says in this month’s SmartProcurement.

Emerging markets and their supply chains now on the global map

“Two-thirds of global executives state their supply chains are being developed to service growth in emerging markets”. This is one of the outcomes of a recent survey of 225 supply chain and corporate executives from global companies with annual revenues exceeding US$3-billion. The survey, conducted by Ernst & Young and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) also found that almost four out of five respondents said they are “likely” or “very likely” to relocate a regional headquarters to an emerging market within the next three years.

Warehousing in China? Challenges to consider

This month SmartProcurement publishes the second article in a series considering China’s warehousing options, as presented in a report by C.H. Robinson Worldwide. This month considers the challenges of warehousing in the world’s second largest economy.

Why warehouse in China? Exploring the benefits

China’s business relationship with Africa and South Africa is strengthening with every passing day. But while South African business enjoys the prospects of investment from the east, it may have overlooked some reciprocal investments that can be made in the world’s newly second largest economy.

This month’s SmartProcurement considers the benefits of China’s warehousing options, as presented in a report by C.H. Robinson Worldwide.

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